Receive the latest california updates in your inbox

A teen seriously injured by a falling fireplace in the South Napa earthquake is recovering from a broken pelvis as his family counts their blessings that it wasn't worse. Jodi Hernandez reports. (Published Monday, Aug 25, 2014)

Updated at 7:28 AM PST on Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014

Nicholas Dillon had wanted a big sleepover party on Saturday with a bunch of friends.

His mom said, "How about just one?"

This image captured Monday, Aug. 24, 2014, shows the Dillon family's living room the day after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake caused their fireplace to collapse on top of 13-year-old Nicholas Dillon.Photo credit: Jodi Hernandez

The smaller party, it turned out, was a good thing. If the 9th grader at New Technology High School in Napa had invited a bunch more buddies to crash on his living room floor, there likely would have been a lot more injuries.

Instead, only the 13-year-old was injured. He suffered pelvic fractures when the family fireplace fell on his lower body after the Napa earthquake hit about 3:20 a.m. Nicholas's family is thankful that the X-rays showed his spine, however, is OK.

Fortunately, his family said, he woke up with the first jolt and quickly flipped himself over and started crawling away.

Still, the fireplace collapsed on the lower half of his body, and his brother heard his screams for help. His mother stumbled through the bricks to get him, but didn't get any response when she called 911. His family drove him to the nearest fire station, and from there, he was able to get to the hospital, where he underwent a 10-hour surgery, his aunt said.

Nicholas DillonPhoto credit: Courtesy of Nicholas Dillon family

On Monday, Imanol was in tears recalling what happened to his friend.

"All I remember was he started yelling my name and then I yelled his and I saw the bricks coming down on him," Imanol said.

Nicholas, an avid soccer player who will be off the field for at least four or five months, was one of the 208 patients treated at Queen of the Valley Medical Center complaining of pain. His was one of the more serious cases, though, and he was airlifted to the University of California at Davis Medical Center.